Stephen Hawking moved an audience to tears after he spoke at an event in Cambridge to mark his 75th birthday in July last year.

The Cambridge-based rock star physicist, who died in the early hours of this morning (March 14), topped the bill of a list of distinguished scientists, who addressed an audience in Lady Mitchell Hall at the University of Cambridge.

Professor Brian Cox — known to the public (among other things) for presenting BBC science documentaries such as Wonders of the Solar System — was the first to address the audience, with a talk about our place in the cosmos.

Brian Cox began with a whistle-stop tour of the history of the universe, along with our developing understanding of it.

Although Professor Cox credited Prof Hawking with inspiring him to study physics, he said it was Hawking’s engagement with the public that was his greatest achievement.

Professor Hawking listening to his guests

“I think one of the reasons we are celebrating Stephen’s birthday this way is not only because of his great contribution to physics but due to his great contribution to the public understanding of science,” he said.

Prof Cox borrowed the words of another great scientist Richard Feynman, from his book The Value of Science.

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He said: “The most valuable thing about science is not the things it teaches us about nature, or spin-off technologies, no matter how wonderful they are.

“It’s a state of mind. The state of mind is that not knowing is a valuable and powerful thing.”

Next was Professor Gabriela González, who in February 2016 was one of a small group of scientists to announce the detection of gravitational waves, a revolutionary discovery that completely changed how we understand and study the universe.

Professor Brian Cox gave a talk at the event. Picture: David Johnson

Professor González talked first about black holes, a place in space caused by collapsing stars with such a strong gravitational pull that even light can’t escape.

As González pointed out, Hawking made great contributions to our understanding in this field.

“He was interested in black holes from very early on,” said Prof González (making Prof Hawking sound like a kind of cosmological hipster).